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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24009403">Wake Me Up When September Ends</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElizabethOlsenIsMySpiritAnimal/pseuds/ElizabethOlsenIsMySpiritAnimal'>ElizabethOlsenIsMySpiritAnimal</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Album: American Idiot (Green Day), American Idiot Era, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Canonical Character Death, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode: s7e12 Victory And Death, Force Ghost Ahsoka Tano, Grief/Mourning, Hurt, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Inspired by Music, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Minor CT-7567 | Rex/Ahsoka Tano, Post-Order 66, Post-Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Post-Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Song: Wake Me Up When September Ends, Title from a Green Day Song</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 23:02:28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,039</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24009403</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElizabethOlsenIsMySpiritAnimal/pseuds/ElizabethOlsenIsMySpiritAnimal</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Fifty years later...</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>CT-5597 | Jesse/CT-6116 | Kix, CT-6116 | Kix &amp; Ahsoka Tano</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>90</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Wake Me Up When September Ends</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>May The Fourth Be With You...</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>//</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Time, Kix decided, had not been kind to the Venator’s ruins.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Even from all the way up here, he could see how bad a shape she was in, rust and dirt marring what had once been a proud warship in the Republic Navy. It looked as if she’d crashed and skidded some ways away before finally jolting to a stop, losing parts and segments like leaves on a windy fall day. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sidon had understood, when he’d made the request to visit the planet. He’d even lent him a ship, a small, one-man fighter. Had told him to bring it back, along with anything of value he could find. Sidon was a good man, the man reminded him a bit of his brothers, with how he took care of his men. So when Kix had announced his intention to find out what happened to the other half of the 501st, he’d understood.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It wasn’t hard to find a spot to land, just a little ways away from the Venator. Even now, she still stood majestically, even if time and the elements had shorn a good portion of her beauty away. But to reminisce upon the warship was not Kix’s goal today, he had something else in mind.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He’d learned, through records left by Captain Rex - long since passed on, but a happy life he’d led with Commander Tano - where their fallen brothers lay, and most importantly, where Jesse lay. So he’d ventured out here, to this distant moon orbiting a distant planet in a distant system, to see his brothers, to see </span>
  <em>
    <span>him. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>He wanted to see Jesse, one last time.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Disembarking from his ship, Kix walked along the scarred, pitted ground, the gentle clanking of his armor and his footsteps the only thing filling the air. His Phase II kit had long-since been customized beyond recognition, augmented by trappings of this brave new world he’d found himself in, but anyone - those precious few - who’d fought in the Clone Wars would recognize the last son of Jango Fett, the last Clone Trooper of the Fallen Republic.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He passed by broken bits and pieces of the warship-that-was, a memorial to a Republic-that-was, a time-gone-by. However insignificant and worthless they may have been to this modern galaxy, the familiar pieces of the Venator were threaded around carefully, almost reverently, until Kix came to a stop, overlooking the place that Rex had said their brothers were buried.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Even now, over fifty years later, he could still see the graves.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They were marred by time, slightly overgrown with nature, he could see flowers and plants sprouting in some places, shrouding the helmets that still stood upon their broken weapons, a silent memorial to the lost generation that had fought a war that hadn’t even mattered. Kix walked forward, one foot in front of the other, passing by each and every grave with reverence. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He stopped at the one with the blue helmet.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The helmet was worn, the paint faded and armor chipped, from the elements and passage of time, but even now, Kix knew this was Jesse’s helmet. The familiar cog of the Republic could still be made out. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>So this was where his brother, his friend, his lover, had died.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Even to the end, he fought.” Came a voice behind him, and turning around, Kix saw Ahsoka, blue and ghostly, just the way he remembered her. Force things, he imagined. “We tried so hard to reason with him, but he was too far gone.” She lamented, her voice filled with regret. “It wasn’t his fault.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It was the chip’s, I know.” Kix said, as he turned back to the helmet. “He wasn’t the man I loved when he died.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“For what it’s worth, it was quick.” Ahsoka said, placing a ghostly hand on his shoulder. “He would’ve gone quickly when the ship made planetfall. It’s not much comfort, but I don’t think they suffered too long in their last moments.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They deserve that much.” Kix conceded, sighing as he looked down at the spot where Jesse was buried. Some flowers had sprung up there, giving the appearance of a bouquet laid out upon the resting place of the man who’d meant the world to him. “At least they were avenged.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, they were.” Ahsoka said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kix stood at the grave a bit longer, and then, after a moment, he pulled out his own helmet, brushing his thumbs against it. “Don’t think I’ll be needing this anymore.” He said, and gently, reverently, he laid it down upon the head of Jesse’s grave. “I’m sorry.” He whispered to the soul that lay entombed there. </span>
  <em>
    <span>I’m sorry I wasn’t there to save you, that I couldn’t save all of you. </span>
  </em>
  <span>He thought, whispering a silent prayer for those who had gone before, and then he stood back up, and gave his fallen brother one final salute.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I love you.” He whispered.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Turning away, Kix began to walk back towards his ship. “What will you do now?” Ahsoka asked, and he tilted his head in her direction.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Think I’ll run with the crew for a while. Got nothing but time on my hands, now that the chip’s out and the advanced aging’s been dealt with.” He paused thoughtfully. “Maybe go check in on the Skywalker kid everyone’s been talking about sometime. Is it true she’s the General’s granddaughter?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Anyone with </span>
  <em>
    <span>that</span>
  </em>
  <span> kind of fire definitely is.” Ahsoka said with a soft giggle. “Rex would’ve been so proud.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He certainly would’ve.” Kix conceded, tossing his pack into his fighter and climbing up into it. “Take care of yourself, will ya?” He asked, giving his Commander a little salute, more for old time’s sake rather than formality.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I will.” Ahsoka said, just as she vanished into the ether.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>//</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Did you find anything down there?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Upon his return, the crew had naturally swarmed him, wondering if he’d found any lost treasures in the old, broken Venator he’d been so insistent about visiting. Kix looked from one crew member to the next, and then shook his head softly. “Nothing…” He said, taking care to blink back the tears that sprung to his eyes, to try and stifle the way his fingers trembled. “...nothing but dust and echoes…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“... just dust and echoes.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>//</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you, Dave Filoni.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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